PRESERVE

The challenge

Central Africa is a hotspot for emerging and re-emerging infections. Rapidly identifying and responding to new infections is critical to prevent them from expanding into large-scale outbreaks and pandemics. This requires effective surveillance systems, outbreak response mechanisms, and strategies to ensure research on treatments and control measures can be activated as rapidly as possible during outbreaks. 

However, pandemic preparedness in Central Africa faces multiple challenges. These include limited human resources, inadequate laboratory and clinical research infrastructure, including diagnostic capacity, and poor cross-border sharing of data and information.

The project

Initiatives funded by past EDCTP programmes and others have helped to create international multi-disciplinary platforms to boost clinical research and pandemic preparedness capacity in Central Africa. Key networks have been established, including the Central Africa Clinical Research Network (CANTAM), the Central African Training Platform for Clinical Research (CATCR) and the EDCTP-funded pandemic preparedness network PANDORA-ID-NET. The PRESERVE project is building on this foundation to further strengthen regional collaboration and capacity building, with a particular focus on the human–animal interface and One Health approaches.

The project brings together private-non-profit and public partners from Cameroon, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Gabon and Zambia, plus four European partners. It will forge close ties with the CANTAM, CATCR, and PANDORA-ID-NET networks, as well as key regional partners, such as the WHO Regional Office for Africa, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and the Gates Foundation.

The project aims to strengthen expertise, training, partnerships and infrastructure in the subregion, with a particular focus on: 

• Developing a disease-agnostic toolbox and adaptive protocol to enable clinical trials to be launched rapidly when an outbreak is detected.
• Promoting capacity building for One Health diagnostics and research through strengthening of the Institute of One Health (INOHA) and expansion of its training programmes.
• Strengthening national public health laboratories in the Republic of Congo and Gabon, with additional training and the introduction of rigorous quality management systems.
• Improving tuberculosis diagnosis, for example through evaluation of a newly developed tool based on AI analysis of chest X-rays.
• Enhancing surveillance of arboviruses (such as dengue, chikungunya, Rift Valley fever, yellow fever and Zika viruses) and vector control activities.
• Extending monitoring of zoonotic transmission of TB, through integration into One Health activities.
• Embedding community engagement to strengthen participation in clinical research. 

Impact

The PRESERVE project will strengthen pandemic preparedness in Central Africa. It will:  

• Significantly expand One Health capacity in the subregion.
• Strengthen surveillance systems for vector-borne viral diseases.
• Facilitate the upgrading of laboratories and increase diagnostic capacity.  
• Enhance clinical trial sites across the subregion.
• Establish systems for the rapid launch of clinical trials in outbreak contexts.

Collectively, the work of the PRESERVE project partners will build the capacities of countries in Central Africa to monitor the emergence of new infections and to work together to prevent the escalation of outbreaks into major regional public health challenges.